Property-value complaints "
‘Call assesor by Friday’



NEW SCOTLAND — As New Scotland continues with its first town-wide revaluation in 10 years, some residents received relief last week; 637 parcels across town received a reduction in assessment from their preliminary value announced in February. These adjustments were made after a month of 915 informal hearings and another month of the assessor, Julie Nooney, re-calculating and investigating claims.

Bob Kitchen, a consultant hired by the town for the revaluation, in response to The Enterprise inquiries, has figured the latest statistics.

The overall change in assessed value for all classes of parcels from 2005 to 2006 is now 66 percent rather the 71 percent calculated in February, he reports.

There are 3,997 parcels in town; 3,047 of them are residential. The value of property with houses had increased in value by 80 percent with the assessor’s preliminary numbers. Now, after the most recent adjustments, residential parcels have increased in value by 77 percent from 2005.

Of the 637 reductions, which were announced through letters sent to property owners in the mail, 530 were to residential parcels, 43 for commercial lots, 52 for vacant land, 10 for farms, and 2 for utility parcels.

The town’s website has also been updated, now listing the new values on its searchable database.

The average reduction for the 530 residential properties was 14.5 percent from the preliminary assessed value, Kitchen said.

Sarah Kavanaugh’s home and 24.7 acres on Price Lane on Wolf Hill which The Enterprise has been following as she has challenged her assessment, and challenged the way that values were determined across town, had a preliminary assessment in February of $448,000, a 196 percent increase from her 2005 assessment of $151,000. Her newest adjusted value as of May 1 is $255,700, practically cut in half. Her data inventory lists her house style as "Colonial" now rather than "Log," which was one of her big contentions.
"The largest group of residential reductions occurred in the Bethlehem School District section of town," Kitchen said. The property values there had increased by 91 percent in February. Last week 197 parcels, or 29 percent of the parcels in the Bethlehem School District, were reduced. The average reduction there was 17 percent of the preliminary value. So now, Bethlehem district parcels have a change of 83 percent from last year instead of 91 percent.

With the May 1 adjustments, 282 received a reduced value in the Voorheesville School District, which is 13 percent of the total possible, and the average dollar reduction was 13 percent, Kitchen reports. Parcels in the Voorheesville School District had a 77 percent change in assessed value from 2005 and now their change has decreased to 75 percent.

Some property owners received letters in the mail last week unexpectedly; they had not attended informal hearings but received a change in assessment anyway, Nooney said. Sixty-eight parcels where given higher values, because of something that was brought to Nooney’s attention during the informal hearings or in driving around town, discovering new construction that was not accounted for before, she said.
On Wednesday of this week, the board of assessment review began formal grievance hearings. Property owners who believe they have a case for their assessments to be reduced bring their grievances to a panel of five citizens appointed by the town board. Residents argue for a reduced assessment, and Nooney, on the other side of the room, defends why her listed value is accurate, and "reflects the market," she said.

If people are satisfied with their new May 1 values, then they are finished and do not need to request a formal hearing.

The assessor’s office is now accepting grievance applications from those who would like to continue to fight their assessment.

Normally, there is just one day for grievances to be heard — Grievance Day — which is set by New York State to be May 23 this year.

New Scotland this year, anticipating a heavy load of grievances, has set aside a handful of additional days for the assessment board of review to meet.
"We are strongly encouraging appointments," Nooney said. She wants to prevent what happened in Guilderland last year, she said, where the line was out the door on Grievance Day and, after waiting all day, not everyone was heard.

If residents want to be scheduled for one of the alternative dates, they have to call the assessor’s office by this Friday, May 12, to reserve a slot. If they do not call by Friday, then they will have to show up on May 23 and wait in line.

Ideally, Nooney would also like people to submit their applications and supporting documentation by Friday so she can review the information and perhaps settle a few grievances without having to go to the board, which she has been able to do in a few cases already, she said.

Property owners are not able to pursue legal recourse in the courts if they have not first filed a grievance with the board of assessment review by the due date of May 23.